Okay, so since @Jarr2003 had some very successful community run LPs of X-COM and Nationstates, I decided to add to the trend of forum games in this genre. While one of the big reasons for picking this game to play is that I both have and like it, the other reason is that C:BE has a lot of a events where you have to pick one of two options in a false dichotomy a la Nationstates, unlike Dwarf Fortress, which is both a semi-RTS and a minecraft-like, both of which would be very difficult to handle in a community run game. So now I have to set up defenses around my house to keep me safe from @Carmory.

Comments

FLESH?

Pointless elaboration that should have been originally explained in the OP.

The "or sooner" in the title referred to how I would have started this ahead of time if we had reached 10 survey participants before the 21st. However, circumstances that I do not care to explain have pushed me to move it towards the 24th. Period. That means that I will end the planning phase on the 24th regardless of survey participation.

The survey data is mostly going to matter very little in regard to the game, especially the Affinities and expected victories, because this isn't an electoral college.

There are however, two parts of the survey that will determine the course of the entire game, namely the sections on our expansion packs and mdos. As of now, the data I've collected pushes us towards using non total conversion serious mods and Rising Tide. Unless opinion drastically changes, that's means I'll probably install Awesome Loadout, Social Engineering and the Neuvos Aries Coalition!

But that's not all! Being part of the nonexistent electoral college means you get to be among the first users to get naming rights over any cities we found (except the capital, that's mine mine MINE MINEMINE!). Which, if I'm guessing correctly, means that @BloodScourge, @Jarr2003, @SandraWhite, and @Agubhagu will be the first players to get a city named after what they like within reason. After survey participants get their cities, anyone who had participated in the thread gets a city. If those people run out, naming rights go to any random user who I deem popular enough to deserve it and active enough to use it.

FLESH?

huh someone mentioned me or somethingok coolwait why do i have a right to name cities and what does that have ( small rant) anything to do with election i mean i am deciding what a city should be named therefore there is no election there is only my opinion and that's not electing or electoral etc etc etc and so on i will participate i guess that i guessedit1 :oops taking things way too seriously again

Now that that easiest is over, we can get to picking our starting sponsor, colonists, spaceship and cargo.

SponsorSponsors are our "faction" within the game, they provide us with a unique bonus that will affect the course of our gameplay as well as a sexy leader. Don't worry, that includes men too! Thanks to the Social Engineering mod, each of them also has a special aversion to a specific social engineering choice.

Random

Al Falah (Yield from City Developments increased by 150%)Location: Middle East

+Great in the endgame where your Cities are fully industrialized and you can just churn out boatloads of Science/Culture/Energy/whatever. For more information on Yields, check colonists.

Awesome Ruins also adds Collectors (Start with 3 random Old Earth Artifacts), Zoologists (Gain an Alien Artifact whenever you found a City (except for your Capital)), Archaeologists (Gain a 35% Chance to discover a Progenitor Artifact when finishing an Expidition) and Elders (Gain a free Resource Pod whenever you found a city (including your Capital)).

Science produces technology.

Food determines growth speed and maximum population of a City. If a city consumes more food than it's producing it will enter starvation until the population has decreased to the point where the population is stable.

Once the amount of stored Culture hits a threshold, we'll be able to gain a new Virtue. Unlike Science, Virtues do not have seperate prices. Virtues give the entire colony an instant bonus in some regard.

Production is used for creating buildings and units inside a city.

Diplomatic Capital is used for purchasing leader Traits, changing diplomatic status with a colony and making Agreements. Another use, as implied by the description for INTEGR, is buying units and buildings. It can be gained from cities, but a large portion will probably come out of Agreements others make.

Energy is basically the money yield, it's used for buying units and buildings but is also consumed as maintenance. Energy production is vital for the Contact victory.

Yup, no mods had to be culled. In fact, some more were added, don't worry, nothing like a pony civilization.

20th day, month 7, year 283 AGM.

The records are very clear on this, our ancestors were one of the most technologically and economically powerful civilizations on the Homeworld, before the great flood and the worldshatterers were dropped. Most of the world barely recovered.

They were even worse off.

When all the horrors were surveyed, it was nightmarishly clear that the only chance they had was send the very greatest of their nation across the great void and to the new world.

Many of us were starting to doubt the records, they claimed that the Homeworld is just a myth kept to keep us under control, that the great fleet and the void was all that there is. But sometimes it's good to see me proven wrong.

The competency of our leading council is..how shall should I say it...diverse. A techmind from the Golden Age is a welcome assistant to keep us informed should anything be horribly wrong, though I suspect it might be damaged from the immense radiation exposures during and after the Great Mistake.

After reviewing our landing range I selected the center for its proximity to both resources. Arshia trusts me far more than I have any right for.

Our first decision as a group is to decide what we should be researching. The ones that comprise the web are "branch" technologies, which will lead to further scientific advancements. Below them are "leaf" technologies, which are still useful but don't. The icons for some of them are marked with colors for the influence they will have on our civilization, whether we will walk in Harmony with the new world, fight to protect the Purity of our heritage or work to insure our technological Supremacy.

Of the recommended techs, Planetary Survey will allow us to colonize the ocean. Chemistry will allow us to create Trade Routes, submarines and laboratories as well as allowing Oil to be accessed. Ecology can allow us to remove Miasma and create sonic fences that ward off aliens. Genetics increases our access to food. Physics allows us to build rangers, launch pads and observatories and finally, Engineering will enable us to build rovers, Thorium plants and repair bays.

Thanks to the only vote it was unanimously decided that effort should be directed towards research on alien Ecology, keeping in spirit with the origins of our colony.

A first glimpse of our benevolent and charismatic puppet leader. I swear, this game is going to raise up a generation of headscarf fetishists.

Our explorers found a resource pod sent from Homeworld!

More are expected.

The most fascinating find within the pod was an intact population estimation computer.

We can consume artifacts from Homeworld, this planet and the ruins of the mysterious "Progenitors" to provide useful bonuses to our colony. A combination of three will merit us a permanent bonus, the exponential increase in choices for each artifact means that I work this one out on my own.

We're closer to the south pole than I thought.

A non issue.

Of course it wouldn't be that simple.

Lovely, another pod!

Sadly, not as interesting as the last one.

There are signs of human habitation even before our arrival. Our explorer's only expedition slot will be spent on investigating this.

I finally decided to abuse my power over naming our capital city.

The first major Sleeper ship has arrived on our new world.

Our culture has finally advanced to the point where we can obtain a virtue. Arshia Kishk believes that the Sleeper powers are not trustworthy and absolutely refuses to reap the deepest benefits of intercolonial cooperation.

Brief explanation of the effects of the Social Engineering mod:

-Once we pick a Social Engineering group, we can't change to a group of the same type without abandoning the benefits of our Social Engineering group and entering a state of Martial Law for two turns in which no Food, Science, Production, Energy, Culture or Diplomatic Capital will be gained.

-Each Social Engineering group has a Shortcoming that will take effect once enough Virtues have been invested in that group and will become even worse the more Virtues in that group we have.

-All leaders have preferences and aversions. Leaders will largely increase their Respect if our choices match up with their preferences, preferences of our own leader have no effect in the game, sadly.

-Likewise, we'll lose respect from leaders who have an aversion to our Social Engineering choices and we can't pick Social Engineering that our leaders have an aversion to, Cooperative in this case.

Another Sleeper ship arrived, I have a feeling that this planet will be very politically crowded.

What's our healthcare priority?

Providing care for Defense Workers means that clinics increase city hit points by 15. While providing care for Civil Workers means that clinics increase Health by one more.

Explanation of the Health Mechanic

Health is a global measure of the wellbeing of our colony. It's reduced by population, certain improvements and any sort of conquered city. Likewise, there are a large amount of ways it can be increased, mainly via buildings and virtues. While the amount of health has to be fairly high before any sort of benefit kicks in, the issues caused by negative health are immediate.

Even this early into the game, I have to deal with a ridiculous variety of tech choices.

Planetary Survey (Leaf Tech): Allows Aquatic Cities to move into ocean tiles and build the Thermohaline Rudder, a aquatic building that allows for faster movement when doing so and additional research.

Chemistry (Branch Tech): Enables the construction of Submarine units. The Laboratory, a basic research building. Recyclers, which increase production based off of both a flag bonus and an additional production point for every internal or station centered trade route. And finally, both the exploitation and detection of the Petroleum resource, which is needed for many orbital units.

Engineering (Supremacy Branch Tech): Enables the detection of the Titanium resource. Thorium Reactors, a simple energy production building. The Repair Facility, used for speeding production of Land Units. And the Combat Rover, a maneuverable meelee unit.

Genetics (Harmony Branch Tech): Enables the construction of a Pharmalab, a health building and the Cytonursery, a health building that increases scientific output as well.

Physics (Purity Branch Tech): Enables the ranged Ranger unit. The Science producing Observatory. Launch Complexes, which increase Orbital Coverage. And Drydocks, which increase general production as well as production for naval units.

Geophysics (Leaf Tech): Allows for both sight and exploitation of the Geothermal resource, which is needed for many Wonders. And the Tidal Turbine, which produces Energy for any aquatic city with it.

Alien Biology (Leaf Tech): Makes Workers immune to the damaging effects of Miasma and allows for the construction of Miasmic Repulsors, orbital units that automatically clear out Miasma.

Alien Sciences (Harmony Branch Tech): Allows for the construction of Xenofuel plants, which create energy, and Xenonurseries, which increase the science production of a city by 10%. Both have increased bonuses with access to Xenomass. This technology also allows for the exploitation of Xenomass, a strategic resource vital to many Harmony units and buildings.

Computing (Purity/Supremacy Branch Tech): Allows the construction of Missle Rovers, a ranged vehicle intended for laying siege to cities. The Spy Agency National Wonder, which gives us 3 covert agents. And the Network Buildings, which create both Science and Diplomatic Capital.

Terraforming (Purity/Supremacy Branch Tech): Enables the Terrascape improvement, a high maintenance improvement that produces Food, Production and Culture. The Gaian Well, a Geothermal dependent Energy building that also requires level 5 in Purity. And the exploitation of Floatstone, a Purity aligned resource that's also used for many of their units and buildings.

Dashnet was a nation in the middle east equivalent of an alternate timeline some century or two in the future that was a cultural and technological pinnacle before a vaguely defined apocalyptic event screwed everyone over. Dashnet was one of the nations that had been hit with the brunt.

Human resource consumption was reaching increasingly awful and desperate levels now, it was predicted that Earth would soon reach the point where mankind would be stranded on Earth forever. An loose interstellar colonization project known as the "Seeding" was started to avert this fate, headed by a spiritual leader in India who some suspect to be actually be a half alien bent on using the human race as a springboard to secure her ascension to goddesshood.

At this same time, Dashnet and the rest of the Middle East decided to start their own Seeding under the name Al Falah, unfortunately, the technology they had was some few decades behind the rest. So while other colony ships got cryogenic stasis, leading to the semi-slur of "Sleepers" used by members of Al Falah, they got stuck with having to create a generation ship.

The fleet of Al Falah had taken over five generations to reach "Planet". Under this time, a conspiracy theory had begin to spring up that Earth and Planet nothing more than a hoax used to control the populace. The most prominent "Earth Truther" was a man under the ironic name of Dirt, who had taken to insistently calling it "Homeworld" under the premise that naming our Homeworld after soil was both inaccurate, since Earth was supposedly mostly water, and ridiculous, since nutritious soil was too rare for an entire planet to have enough. This populist concept, although controversial, was enough for the leadership to have to appoint him to avoid looking tyrannical.

He was pleasantly surprised to find out that at least Planet was a real entity and ended up being the organized council leader underneath a nationalistic financial genius.

This brings us up to the start of the actual game.

FLESH?

Is god a cookie, or is the cookie a god?The world may never know"You have now, officially broken the game,"-Maniklas"Okay, ANYWAY, yes, I am a magician,"-RunninginReverse""""My game will be playable on all Samsung Microwaves with firmware update 5.3.2 and up." - Audiot" - RunningInReverse" - Purge" - Agubhagu

While some records were misplaced, we did end up with a Solar Collector thanks to our valiant explorers.

Keeping up there.

Planet is influencing our cultural development much more quickly than anticipated.

Here's our first Alien Artifact!Yes, I know it's boring.

Great, we're ready to send out our first Colonist!

Explanation of Stations.

Stations are neutral structures with their own territory that can also be traded with.

Unlike cities, they do not actively expand their influence or attack.

We just got our first unit upgrades! Units can be upgraded once you have sufficient Affinity Levels, when a unit is upgraded, all units of that type present or future experience an overall increase in effectiveness and gain one of two specific upgrades. We can save our unit upgrade opportunity but these specific units have no competing upgrades.

Note: Send a PM if you don't want to be mentioned in this routine again.

But I do not want to be in that routine again.

"You can't get into sigs if you try hard!!!!!!!!!!!1!!!!!!!11!!" -Darkmatterfire"Dude, you can't just quote yourself." -kirdneh"Now I can." -dt200 in reply to kirdneh even though it is sig only"I have bent all known laws!" -dt200 in reply to the above